Hi I have been asked a question by a lady who is coming over to spain in Jan with her family.I do not know the answer,and wondered if any one on here might.

She is bringing her UK plated car over from England to Spain,and has asked me if she needs to re register the car in spain when she gets here.
(Personally i wouldnt bother bringing it,as i have heard there is a big clamp down on british plated cars with mots and tax etc,....(dont know if this is true)and they are more hassle than they are worth anyway-easy targets for thiefs,etc....
Can any one help me on the relevant paperwork(if any)that she would need?

..and if she wants the car over for longer than that, as long as she transfers to spanish plates there will be no problem.
I dont think she needs worry about being a target for car thieves, we have had our RHD here for 4&1/2yr now and have had no problems.Standard rules apply-dont leave valuables in sight, on seats, etc, therefore no more likely to be broken into than a LHD.

o.k Karandjon,i will tell her this as well.
I dont know what its like where you live,but here,near the Gib border-there are a lot of problems with Brit plated cars,also Gib plated ones too.
The locals think that the Brit ones are tourists and easy targets-they seem to get done over quite a lot.I suppose the spanish ones do also,but as we are English,its those we seem to notice.
Thanks for the info guys

See my post Aug 2005, re transfering to Spanish plates, link hopefully below. Its a long and quite frustrating process but a great insight into the workings of spanish beauracracy and doing it stood me in good stead for future encounters of the administrative kind. I was quite chuffed with myself after I finally had the plates fitted, especially as I did not speak much spanish then. Knowing what is involved, €500-1000 for a gestor to do it for you sounds quite cheap!

The easiest thing to do is buy a car over here of course, but if she does bring her uk car, it makes life much easier once the plates are transferred - you feel more like one of the community. Daft maybe but I feel its one of the things that helps you assimilate, that and learning the language of course!

I was proud as punch picking (finally) my spanish plates up, and yes, it put me in good stead for what was to come with regards all other aspects of "turning spanish"! However, would I do it again....now, knowing what is involved,not a chance!! Good Luck if you do decide to do it, but if you can, I would definitely buy Spanish!

thanks for the link geegee-i will clik it and cut and paste it to her-we already have a spanish plated car-so i wont read it all(if its a long one)
With us already having a spanish plated car-i didnt know what was involved regarding a british one-so thought i would ask on here(always really helpful )
Thanks to you all for replying-thanks for the link geegee.
Regards and best wishes for christmas.

Someone has recently told me that all they have had to do is register their British plated car with the local Town Hall, get an ITV and they were able to pay the road tax to the Town Hall via the bank and are perfectly legal. A local Spaniard who works at the Town Hall helped them to do this.

Seems very sensible to me.....

(says she very annoyed after spending 500 euros last May to matriculate their car! )

That sounds pretty unlikely to me unless the town hall is just desperate to raise money.

In Spain car tax is paid to the local council and they set the rates - it's just another source of local income. The only way to have the car 100% legal is to register it centally with Trafico which, of course, is a central government authority.

When stopped by the Guardia they are rarely interested in whether you have paid your road tax - to them it is about as important as whether you have paid your rubbish collection charges!